Its a phrase that has been doing the rounds on the SEO and blogging scene for a very long time but what is “Quality Original Content”. I talk about creating this type of content a lot during my training sessions but a question I often get asked is, what exactly is it?
It can be a tricky concept to get your head around especially if you come from a PR or selling background as you’re always used to writing sales copy and direct selling is a content mistake that a lot of people make so I’m going to attempt(!) to explain what Quality Original Content really means.
Remember the search engines customer is the searcher and their job is to provide the best information or search results they can, so if you write excellent content for your website you stand a better chance of appearing near the top.
What’s Not Quality Content!
PR or market blurb is not quality content. It may look great in a brochure, catalogue or on the product pages of a shopping site but on your blog or within the main content of your site its not good.
Quality content is not 150 words on your about us page or 250 words bragging about how great you are. This sort of writing is great for the selling pages of your website but don’t expect them to rank near the top without some meat on the page.
Examples Of Great Content
Great content should solve a problem or answer a question and can be different types of article. Here’s a few examples:
Original Research – collect some stats, do a survey and present them as useful research.
Answer a question – I use this type of article a lot and listen to my clients questions all the time for ideas on new blog posts.
How to – there are lots and lots of how to articles online, and they work! Go into detail and explain to your customers exactly how to do something using text, pictures and even video. Remember to update these articles when things change.
Fix something – These are great if you sell parts or anything that’s needed to fix or repair something. Last year I searched on how to fix my washing machine and bought the pump from the company that produced the video.
Taking care – Producing articles on how to take care of the things you sell is an excellent idea.
There you have a few ideas on what constitutes Quality Original Content where you are helping someone with a problem or answering a question. Look deeply into the products you sell and listen to your clients questions and write down all the ideas you have for new posts or articles.
If the company you work for is not really into creating a blog then call it a knowledge base or FAQ centre and create a focal point for your longer more descriptive content.
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I’d love to hear your thoughts on what quality content means to you so fire up in the comments.